Kucha?

There is a very interesting alkaloid called theacrine, closely related to caffeine, with a range of beneficial effects, and contained in large quantities in a variety of tea called C. assamica var. kucha. There's not much info available online on this variety, but apparently it grows naturally in Meng Song. It is supposed to be very bitter. Look at this interesting blog post by Zhi Zheng:

Now I'm thinking, could this not be what gives some teas from Bulang Shan that special bitterness? I've always wondered why the bitterness of those teas was so, not just strong, but different. I have also heard Lao Man E tea referred to as "kucha".

What do you think about this? Does tea from any other mountains have this kind of bitterness?

Ljung93 wrote:Teaism - Great, cause I can't get enough of that bitterness! and I have yet to try any Hekai.

Quite hard to get Chun Liao, true mountain tea nowadays. A lot are blended. If you can find a real Hekai it would be great. I like its bitterness. Very exotic, almost like Beidou no 1 excitement in yancha.

yes the south bulangshan teas can be very bitter! On this banna map you can find both areas: the famous one and the south bulang one "xiao mengsong" or "damenglong mengsong"... and don't worry about zhizheng, he knows all that and muuuch more